U.S. Disaster Relief & Rebuild

Many thousands of people find their lives turned upside down every year as hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, and floods strike the United States.

Since 1998, our Samaritan’s Purse U.S. Disaster Relief and Rebuild teams have been ready to respond at a moment’s notice in Jesus’ Name anywhere the needs are. We thank God for our local church partners and our volunteers who have made this work in North America possible for nearly three decades. During these projects, we’ve seen nearly 9,000 people receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

“Samaritan’s Purse is here to help and we’re doing it all in Jesus’ Name. We want every homeowner to know that God loves them and hasn’t forgotten them.”

Serving Alongside Faithful Volunteers and Churches

We thank God for a national network of volunteers (298,000 and growing) and faithful ministry partners—including the local churches where we serve and dozens of designated Lighthouse Churches.

Volunteers and churches are the key to our relief and rebuild work in North America. The orange shirts of our volunteers are a welcome sight in areas devastated by violent storms and other natural disasters. Hurting people need men and women like you who are eager to help them and bring the comfort only God can offer. As we work in communities, we have opportunities to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to point people back to local churches faithfully preaching God’s Word and serving their communities.

Samaritan's Purse staffers and volunteers hear this question in many forms as we roll into communities in the days, sometimes hours, after a disaster hits. It's one of our favorites to answer because the answer is always Jesus. We help in Jesus' Name, and we want hurting people to experience His love and the true hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

“As we're serving we have the opportunity to put our arm around them and to share the hope that we have in Jesus. That's why we're here.”

Equipped to Respond in Jesus’ Name

We are grateful to God for the right people and tools for the work He has called us to. With our experienced teams and a fleet of nine U.S. Disaster Relief units—tractor trailers stocked with supplies and equipment—strategically positioned at ministry centers around the country, we are able to respond whenever and wherever disaster strikes.

• Tarp damaged roofs
• Mud out flooded homes
• Cut and remove fallen trees from yards
• Sift through the ashes of a person’s home
• Repair and rebuild destroyed homes and neighborhoods

The Lord has positioned us to help people after disasters in partnership with local churches and through volunteers who come from all walks of life to help their neighbors in Jesus’ name.

Since 1998, we have helped more than 98,000 families in 39 states. From the western edge of Alaska to Florida’s southernmost coasts, our teams and volunteers are among the first to arrive and the last to leave in the wake of devastation caused by tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and fires.

“I was left with nothing but the clothes on my back. That was it. But God sent just the right people here to give me my home again.”

Military Couples Serving with Team Patriot

Since 2019, military couples have deployed with our U.S. Disaster Relief volunteers through Team Patriot a service component of our Family Care ministry to Alaska alumni. Team Patriot provides couples unique opportunities to serve together, often at the homes of fellow military families, to help hurting communities.

We praise God for our rebuild volunteers serving faithfully in communities displaced from their homes by disasters. We have helped rebuild homes for more than 2,200 families. These are houses we’ve either extensively repaired or built from the ground up.

Since 2005, our crews of rebuild volunteers serve with our staff of experienced foremen and superintendents to construct high-quality homes, built to withstand the strength of future storms.

One of our most recent and extensive rebuild efforts is underway in the southern Appalachians where Hurricane Helene hit with deadly force. The 2024 storm pummeled Florida but did its worst in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee where boulders broke loose and where swollen, overflowing rivers wiped out communities.

This response is one of our largest U.S. relief efforts, and we are serving the people in our own backyard—including friends, neighbors, family, and staff. It has now turned into one of our largest rebuild projects ever, requiring years to complete.

In addition to multiple sites in North Carolina and Tennessee, we also have ongoing rebuild projects in Texas and California.

“We want God to be seen in these hurting communities, and we want homeowners to see that it was God’s people who came here in a time of crisis to put their house back together.”

Nearly Three Decades of Rebuilding Communities

Our rebuild program started in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. After our initial relief response and clean-up efforts, we worked for more than five years to repair or rebuild more than a thousand homes.

Not long after Katrina hit New Orleans, Samaritan's Purse started rebuilding churches and other structures in Alaska's Native communities, beginning with the fire-devastated village of Hooper Bay. “I was in a short-sleeve shirt and sweating in the Louisiana sun when Franklin Graham called and said ‘I need you to get up to Hooper Bay,’ ” recalls Luther Harrison, vice president of U.S. Rebuilds at Samaritan's Purse. Harrison was in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, when the small village of Hooper Bay burned. Samaritan's Purse President Franklin Graham wanted to help rebuild that small community, a desire that has blossomed into an ongoing construction ministry.

Since 2006, Samaritan's Purse has completed 37 construction projects in Alaska, mostly in remote areas off the road system.

Pray.

Please pray for our volunteers and church partners willing to provide compassionate relief to suffering people in Jesus’ Name.

Volunteer.

When you volunteer with Samaritan's Purse on disasters and rebuild projects, you make the work possible.

Give to Disaster Relief.

Samaritan’s Purse provides our services free of charge to help the families that we serve. Your generous support allows us to repair roofs, remove debris, and even rebuild homes from the ground up in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Get Others Involved.

Tell others about our work so they too can volunteer, give, and pray. You can visit samaritanspurse.org/fundraise and find out how to motivate others to join you in making a difference.

Become a Lighthouse Church.

Our church partners are essential to our work in North American communities. When you partner with Samaritan’s Purse as a Lighthouse Church, you serve as a “home base” during a disaster response in your community. Lighthouse churches house volunteers, provide space for our trucks and equipment, and serve as an information hub for the community. Lighthouse churches also can serve by sending volunteer teams on disaster deployments to other areas. For more information on becoming a Lighthouse Church, contact us at lighthousechurch@samaritan.org.

“It’s just so amazing how even through the bad stuff we can come together and serve and see God open doors.”